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‘India spends less of its GDP on health than some of the world’s poorest countries.’

A single government hospital serves an estimated 61,000 people in India, with one bed for every 1833 people, new official data shows. In undivided Andhra Pradesh, every government hospital serves over 3 lakh patients while in Bihar, there is only one bed for every 8800 people.

Union Minister for Health J.P. Nadda released the National Health Profile 2015 prepared by the Central Bureau for Health Intelligence (CBHI) in September 2015 along with officials of the Ministry, the Directorate General of Health Services and the CBHI.

Every government allopathic doctor serves a population of over 11,000 people, with Bihar and Maharashtra having the worst ratios. The number of qualified allopathic doctors registered with medical councils fell in 2014 to 16,000, or less than half the previous year’s number; the data was however provisional, CBHI officials said.

According to World Health Organization, doctor patient ratio should be minimum one doctor for 1000 people. But in India there is only one doctor per 1,700 citizens which is increasing rapidly.
The Union Health Ministry figures claim that there are about 6-6.5 lakh doctors available, India would need about four lakh more by 2020—50,000 for PHCs; 0.8 lakh for community health centres (CHC); 1.1 lakh for 5,642 sub-centres and another 0.5 lakh for medical college hospitals.

Health expenditure per capita (in USD) of India is only $61 (around 4,000 INR) that is even less than poor countries like Haiti, Cambodia and Zambia.
World Health Organization statement that countries should spend 5 percent of national income on health care services. As per 2012 GDP India is only spending 1.3 per cent while developed countries like US and the UK spending 15 per cent and 8.5 per cent, respectively. Though as per the latest 12th Five-Year Plan India aims for 3 per cent till 2017.

The Centre’s share of total public expenditure on health has fallen over the last two years, and India spends less of its GDP on health than some of the world’s poorest countries. Among all States, undivided Andhra Pradesh had the highest public expenditure on health in 2012-13. Goa and the north-eastern States spent the most on health per capita while Bihar and Jharkhand spent the least.

Out-of-pocket private expenditure on health has risen steadily over the years, with the cost of medicines, followed by that of hospitalisation accounting for the largest share of the household expenditure. Absolute spending, as well as its share in total non-food expenditure, rises with income levels. Kerala spends the most privately on health.

India is having Human Development Index (HDI) of only 0.609 that is even worse than poor African countries like Guyana & Namibia. Best countries are Norway and Australia that having HDI of 0.944 and 0.935 respectively.